1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a pallet for supporting a product, parts or the like thereon for transportation.
2. Related Background Art
When an article of great volume and heavy weight, for example, a business machine such as a copying apparatus, is to be conveyed from an assembly factory or the like to another place by a forklift, the article is placed on a pallet and the pallet is bodily conveyed by the forklift. As a pallet for conveyance, the technique of mounting a leg member under a plate member, forming a space for inserting a forklift therethrough between the ground and the plate member, placing an article on the plate member and transporting the article is known from Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 49-23403, Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 50-21252, Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 50-22443, etc. The bulky article such as the aforementioned copying apparatus, because of its great volume and weight, requires much labor and time for loading and unloading it onto and from a pallet and it is necessary to reduce the cost in commodity distribution control. For the loading and unloading of an article onto and from a pallet, use is made of the supporting pass plate shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 46-10440. This pass plate is such that it is bendably connected at the central portion of the body thereof by means of a pin hinge, rubber wheels are attached to the opposite sides of the rear of the bent portion, handles are attached to the opposite sides of the rear of the pass plate, and during the use, the fold is stretched and a pallet is passed over two high and low locations to thereby transport an article. Further, a pallet in which on a supporting bed body provided with an inclined surface, a supporting plate inclined along said inclined surface is mounted by means of a hinge is known from Japanese Utility Model Publication (examined) No. 50-42526.
The prior-art article supporting pallet is contrived so as to withstand the weight of the article, but it requires the aforedescribed pass plate or the like to be used to load the article onto the pallet and unload the article from the pallet.
Business machines, particularly business machines of large size and great volume such as copying apparatuses, manufactured in a factory are carried one by one on individual pallets when they are distributed from the factory to agents or from the factory to commodity distribution control centers and final customers. In that case, much labor and time are required for placing the business machines onto the pallets and it is difficult to reduce the cost of commodity distribution control. Also, in that case, it is cumbersome to prepare the aforementioned pass plate separately and bring it out and mount it each time a business machine is loaded and unloaded.
There is also the problem that unless a necessary number of pass plates are prepared in the place for loading and unloading of business machines onto and from the pallets, time is wastefully consumed for the distribution work.
As described above, the prior-art article supporting pallet has not been provided with means for unloading an article from the pallet and therefore, if the weight or volume of the article supported thereon is great, it has given rise to the necessity of using an instrument such as a forklift or lifting the article by several workers when the article is unloaded from the pallet. Also, it has often been the case that when corner pads are to be removed or when the article is to be unloaded, the corner potions of the pallet contacts with the bottom of the particle to thereby damage the article.